What If
by Ray-Of-Wisdom
Summary: What if Reagan had kicked the door a little bit harder that night... What if it resulted in Cath's ribs being a little bit broken when they got to the party?


_The door flew open and caught Cath in the ribs._

Cath was knocked to the floor by the force of the blow. Instinctively, she curled up on her side and groaned.

"Shit." Reagan dropped her books to the floor and rushed forwards the two feet the comprised of their doorway. "Cath?"

Tears were forming at the sides of Cath's eyes as she tried to breathe through the burning in her chest. Each breath felt like a small piece of agony.

"I'm ok." She wheezed as she tried to uncurl herself from her ball on the floor. "Why do you always kick the door?"

"Cos my hands are always full." Reagan shrugged. "Why'd you decide to stand behind it if you know I always kick it?"

"Needed a mirror. Besides, I thought you'd be out all night." Cath propped herself up against her bed and closed her eyes. The pain was still there, still sharp, but she was learning to live with it.

"Wait- were you planning on going out tonight?" Reagan quirked an eyebrow. "To Levi's party?"

"Maybe. But I hadn't quite thought about how to get there."

"Huh, well, I'm going. I need to change then I'll give you a ride."

"That's a nice way of apologising." Cath tried to push herself off the side of the bed to stand and winced. She sucked in a sharp breath. Reagan turned to face her.

"Cath? You sure you're ok?" She asked slowly.

"Positive. Just need to sit down for a little bit." Reagan eyed Cath wearily so she forced a smile onto her face, one like Levi's, and Reagan turned to get changed. Cath moved herself carefully to her wardrobe and pulled out her only non- Simon Snow top that was mostly clean. She lifted her arms slowly, wincing as she went along. _Maybe I shouldn't go,_ she thought, _I mean, I have a valid excuse now-_

"All right, let's go." Cath was snapped out of talking herself out of going by Reagan's voice. She nodded and fell into step with her as they left the room. She lingered in the doorway for a moment, wondering if she was really doing this, and then shook herself. _Get over yourself Cather_ , she mentally scolded.

The ride in Reagan's car was uncomfortable for Cath to say the least. She shifted every few seconds to change where the pressure on her chest was. Sometimes she lent against the back of the seat a little too hard and had to stop herself yelling out in pain. And sometimes, every so often, Reagan would look over to Cath and see that she was in a different position than she had been before. She frowned to herself.

When they got to Levi's house Cath took longer to get out of the car than she had to get into it. Reagan stood impatiently tapping the side of her leg and waited for her. Cath bit her lip.

"Maybe I should go back, I mean, will anyone still be here?"

"Levi lives here, idiot, so someone will. Anyway, how were you planning on getting back?"

"Oh, um," Cath rubbed the side of her arm. She felt like an idiot for even thinking that no one would be there.

"I'm not going to abandon you, come on."

Inside the house smelt like alcohol, but not as unpleasantly, or strongly, as Cath had imagined it might. She weaved her way around the mass of bodies, following Reagan. It was only because she was avoiding someone's elbow that she crashed into the side of the wall. She collapsed in a flash of blinding pain and cried out. Reagan whipped around and yelled her name but Cath couldn't hear anything over the blinding agony coming from her chest.

"-you ok? Cath? Cath?" Slowly, Cath registered the sound of Reagan's voice and nodded feebly in reply. In another moment Levi was pushing through the crowd, the news of someone being hurt had travelled fast.

"Cath?" There was no smile on Levi's face at that moment. Cath was curled into herself on the floor, clutching her arms loosely around her chest. "What's wrong?" Levi helped to ease Cath off the floor. "Reagan?" He turned to her when Cath didn't answer. Reagan shrugged.

"She's been acting funny since I…" Realisation seemed to dawn on Reagan. "Shit. We need to go to the emergency room. Now."

"Reagan?" Levi's voice had taken a worried tone to it.

"She was stood behind the door when I walked in, but it's me and I had my hands full so I kicked the door and… She said she was ok."

"All right, Cath, we're going to take you to the emergency room and get you checked out. I'm going to pick you up, ok?"

"Mm-hm. 'm fine." Cath mumbled.

"No you're not, come on." Levi lifted Cath in one swift motion. She curled into his arms and closed her eyes.

"I'm fine, really." She muttered again.

"Clear the way!" Reagan yelled ahead of them. Cath buried her face into Levi's shirt.

"Really, I'm fine." She muttered against it in embarrassment. She was being carried out of a party, her _first_ party, by her roommate's ex-boyfriend who she just so happened to have kissed and she had no way of knowing who was watching or what they were thinking. _That's it,_ Cath thought, _I am never leaving my dorm again. I will stay in the World of Mages with Simon and Baz and everything I know and it will all be fine._

"No you're not, Cather. We're going to the emergency room." Levi's face was still void of smiles as he stared straight ahead. "Reagan, get the door." He said when they got out to his truck. Cath heard the door to Levi's truck open and sighed. She wasn't going to win this, and her ribs really did hurt. "You're driving, I've got Cath."

Levi crawled into the truck with Cath still in his arms. She couldn't help thinking about how warm his chest was, or the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, it was comforting. He smelled like coffee and alcohol, and just overly Levi.

Levi spent the journey to the emergency room stroking Cath's hair and talking to Reagan.

"What happened?"

"I think she's broken a rib, maybe two." Reagan said.

"That doesn't answer the question. I mean how did you not realise sooner?"

"I did! I mean, I realised she was hurt but she said she was fine."

"Well obviously not."

"I know that now!" If Reagan hadn't been driving, Cath could almost imagine her stomping her foot at Levi. The thought made her giggle but this moved her ribs and she stopped quickly.

"You doing ok, Cather?" Levi asked concerned.

"Uh-huh." She nodded. "Are we nearly there? I'm not..." Cath paused to take a breath. "Breathing hurts."

"Shit, Cath." Reagan swore from the driver's seat and the car moved just a little bit faster.

Reagan pulled up in the hospital car park and ran around to open the door for Levi and Cath. As Levi got out of the car with Cath still firmly in his arms, she couldn't help but feel a bit like a damsel in distress. Usually that thought didn't sit well with her, and this was not an exception.

"It's ok, put me down, I can walk." Cath tapped lightly on Levi's shoulder.

"No you can't." Levi walked gently with her to avoid jostling her ribs.

"Yes I can. I'm heavy, it's fine."

"We're ten feet away from the door."

"Ten feet could make all the difference."

"Five feet."

"Levi, I can walk."

"Look, we're here." Cath threw he head back over Levi's arm and tried to ignore the stab of pain from over stretching her torso.

"You're impossible." Cath groaned. She felt, rather than saw, Levi shrug and pretended it handy hurt her ribs. Next thing she knew she was being taken off for a scan.

It was a while later that Wren turned up. Levi had waited in the hospital while Reagan had gone to find Wren since neither of them knew the code to Cath's phone. Wren had almost not come, half convinced that her sister wanted nothing to do with her, but she was her built in best friend. Her sister. And she was hurt. She had rung their father on the way to the hospital and told him everything she knew, which was not very much at all, and their dad had said he'd be on the next flight out, not that he knew when that would be.

Wren almost ran into the waiting room and to the desk. "I'm here for my sister. Cath, she's Cath Avery." The receptionist nodded. It was obvious that Wren had been on, or was going on, a night out. Her dress barely reached her mid thigh and her heels were definitely not day wear.

"Wren?" Levi asked. Wren turned around and saw him. Reagan walked in slowly behind Wren.

"Levi?"

"Yeah. I, uh, don't know anything. Not family." He shrugged.

"Oh, right, yeah. I'll ask." Wren's words were slightly slurred. Levi frowned a little. He was doing more frowning than usual when it came to the Avery sisters tonight. He watched as Wren walked away, or sashayed really, and turned to Reagan.

"Where'd you pick her up?"

"Bar." Levi nodded as if it all made sense, which it really did considering Wren almost didn't come, he was pretty sure that wouldn't have happened had she been sober. Well, he was pretty sure it wouldn't have happened if the roles had been reversed and Cath was the drunk one. Thinking about her brought a whole new wave of worry over him. He ran a hand through his hair and waited. Reagan left not long after, she'd taken a cab back to Pound Hall and then brought Wren back in her car. She had a test in the morning but made Levi promise to text her any updates.

Wren sashayed her way back a few minutes later and sat down in the seat next to Levi a little too elegantly for someone who was drunk, in Levi's opinion.

"They knocked her out. One of the ribs came close to puncturing a lung, still might, she should've come in as soon as it happened." She said almost accusingly.

"I brought her as soon as I knew she was hurt. How many broken?"

"One broken, two cracked and they think a couple bruised from whenever she fell." Levi winced at the information and saw Wren was tapping her fingers against her leg.

"She'll be ok." Levi said. Wren nodded but she was still rapping her fingers against her leg.

"I'm going to go call my dad again." Levi nodded and Wren left. "You can go, if you want."

"I'd rather stay, at least until your dad gets here. Cath would kill me if I left her sister alone, half drunk, with no way to get home." Wren nodded and moved further away.

Wren and Levi ended up staying the night. The girls' father couldn't get a flight out until that morning so he hadn't arrived yet. Wren had sobered up over the course of the night and they'd been allowed into Cath's room.

Wren had placed herself as close to the bed as she could and Levi had pulled a chair into the best position for him to see both the door and Cath at the same time. They weren't going to let him in but Wren worked him into being their cousin... Or something.

Cath blinked her eyes open slowly. She couldn't feel a thing. She was floating on a blissful cloud, her brain was muddled and she wasn't sure what had happened. The first thing she saw was Wren. Or she thought it was Wren, she wasn't really sure.

"Hey, sleepy head." Wren smiled at her and now she knew it was Wren. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were obviously tired from the red around them.

"Hey, Wrenegade." Cath gave a goofy smile.

"How're you feeling?"

"Never better."

"They have you on some pretty strong painkillers. Are you high right now."

"I don't know." Cath tilted her head to the side and stuck her bottom lip out. "Does being high make you feel like you're floating?" Levi chuckled, or giggled, Cath still hadn't decided if guy giggled. She turned to face him and half heartedly glared.

"Shhhh, meanie." She stuck her tongue out at him. Levi got out of his chair and walked to the side of Cath's bed. He rested his hand over hers and smiled at her, that typical, Levi smile that made her heart flutter.

"Dad'll be here soon, Cath." Wren smiled. The hand touching hadn't gone unnoticed but she wasn't mentioning it yet. Just then her phone rang.

"Hey, Dad." Wren smiled. "Oh, ok. Well, she's awake do you want-" Wren pulled the phone away from her ear and frowned at it. Her phone still had signal, so it wasn't her, it must've been her dad's phone. "Dad's stuck in a freak snow storm. Completely snowed it, he can't get anywhere. Sorry, Cath, his phone cut out."

"Haven't you guys got class?" Cath wondered.

"Yeah, but you're more important."

"When can I go home?"

The discharge papers were signed later that day. Cath was given a prescription for pain killers and Levi drove them back to campus. She persuaded Wren to go to class but Levi wouldn't shift. He was adamant that he wouldn't leave Cath alone while she was on painkillers.

Levi walked Cath up to her room in Pound Hall and then made himself comfortable on her bed, as was the norm. Cath went to her desk, thinking she'd write some more of _Carry On_ but Levi grabbed her hand before she could and shook his head, grinning.

"You're high, Cath, I don't think it's a good idea to be writing right now." Levi pointed out. Cath pondered this for a minute until she decided that he was right, it really wouldn't do to write right now. _Write right_ Cath though to herself. _Write right, write right, write right_ , Cath giggled to herself. "What's so funny?" Levi grinned at her.

"Write right." She giggled. "Write right now, write right now. It's funny, see? Both of them sound the same but mean different things and have two different spellings. The English language is weird." She decided. Levi likened her to a small child in his head. She was stumbling and bumbling and giddy. It was a side of Cath levi had never seen, he wondered if this would be what Cath would be like drunk. She tried to walk forwards and tripped over her own feet.

"Careful there, Bambi." Levi grinned. "Are you sure they dosed you right?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I think so. I mean, it would be really bad if they hadn't, wouldn't it. Oh wait, maybe it's like alcohol!" Cath looked as if she'd just had a eureka moment and was incredibly pleased with herself for it.

"How so?" Levi guided himself and Cath onto her bed and propped her against his chest. Cath sighed and snuggled down.

"How so, what?"

"How so are the pain killers like alcohol?" He reminded her.

"Oh, right!" She sprang off Levi's chest, or at least as far as his arm around her would allow. "Well, alcohol gets you drunk faster if you've not eaten, right? So say I hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday morning, so over twelve hours, they'd affect me more." Levi almost laughed until he realised the implications of that statement.

"You haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday?"

"Hmmm, nope." She closed her eyes and felt Levi's chest sink as he let out a long breath.

"Cather, that's not good." He reprimanded.

"Too busy. Carry On, Fiction Writing… No time. I was going to get lunch but then there was just this scene between Simon and Baz, it was practically writing itself, and then it was too late for lunch really unless I was going to eat dinner really late and I don't like eating late at night so I decided to wait till later and get an early dinner to eat instead. But then I just got lost in my fic and I decided that I needed to finish this chapter and get it betaed before I could go eat because the words were just pouring out of me and then I got hit by the door." Levi frowned at her.

"I'm going to get you some food, wait here."

"You always feed me." Cath pointed out.

"Well, you need feeding. Honestly, Cather, I don't know who decided you were old enough to live on your own."

"The law. Education. Wren."

"Stay here."

"I think I'm going to sleep."

"I won't be long."

"Okay." Cath waved to Levi as he left the room and grabbed her phone to text Wren, then had second thoughts, maybe now she was ok Wren wouldn't want to talk to her again. Were they still fighting? had this fixed anything or was Wren really not bothered still? Because if Wren wasn't bothered then she didn't want to text her, besides, it wasn't like she could ask Wren to come and help her with Carry On like she wanted to. Wren had grown out of that, she didn't want to write fan fiction anymore.

Cath was overcome by a sudden wave of sadness. She'd lost her built in best friend. They'd gone their separate ways. Wren getting drunk on alcohol and Cath getting drunk on fandom. It took Cath some thinking about how they had ever been the same. They were so different now. Or at least, that's what it seemed like to Cath.

When Levi came back Cath was snoring lightly on her bed. The sound of the door closing, even though levi tried to be quiet, woke Cath and she pushed herself up tiredly.

"Hey." She whispered. She was starting to feel the pain in her ribs again, not a lot but a little. She figured this meant the pain killers were wearing off.

"Hey." Levi smiled at her. He was carry two red Starbucks cups and four brown bags of food. "Gingerbread latte, for Cather." He handed her one of the cups. "And I got a tuna melt or ham and cheese, and two chocolate muffins. What do you want?"

"Can we split?" Cath's stomach growled loudly the moment she smelled the food. She blushed and looked down.

"Sure." Levi took his jacket off his shoulders and laid it down on top of Cath's duvet to stop crumbs getting onto her bed and split the sandwiches in half. "Cheers." He smiled as he tapped their sandwiches together.

"I'm so hungry I think I could eat a horse." Cath sighed around a mouthful of food and then realised how bad that must have looked but Levi was just laughing.

"Sorry, didn't have any of those."

"I think the painkillers are wearing off a bit, I might try do some writing later." Cath said as she picked up her second half of the sandwiches. Levi was still in his clothes from the night before, but Cath had changed while he had been out.

"That's good, maybe next time you take them you'll remember to eat before hand."

"Maybe." They sat in silence again as they ate. When they had finished Levi cleared away the brown paper bags and brushed the crumbs from his jacket into the bin and then joined Cath on the bed again. She leaned against him and closed her eyes.

"If you have class to get to, you should go. I'm not high anymore." Levi looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "Ok, I'm not _as_ high anymore. And I'm probably just going to sleep or write and I'm not going to be very good company for you." Levi shrugged under her.

"It's fine. I'd rather be here to avoid you injuring yourself further. Besides, aren't you supposed to be on bedrest or something? No writing."

"Or something. The doctor didn't explicitly say bed rest. And she definitely didn't say no writing."

"Well, I am. You'll get frustrated when you read it back when you're not on all the painkillers and it's not good enough."

"Excuse you, my writing is amazing high or not!" Cath pushed his chest.

"I'm sure it is, but I just don't want you to risk it."

"Hmmm." Was all Cath's answer comprised of. She was falling asleep. Levi looked down at her and smiled fondly.

"Good night, Cather." He whispered and kissed her forehead.

"G'night, Levi." Cath trailed off, without quite making it to the last syllable of his name.


End file.
